1 SERMON 30/9/18. 2 Corinthians 8:1-15

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1 2 Corinthians 8: SERMON 30/9/18 You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; rich as He was, He made Himself poor for your sake in order to make you rich by means of His poverty. (2 Cor.8:9) I have always loved Harvest Thanksgiving and for me it is undoubtedly one of the highlights of the church's calendar. For sure, I love the decorations and I want to express gratitude to those who have so beautifully decorated the church for this morning's celebration. But I also really love to explore the themes that emerge as we pause and ponder our response to God's goodness to us in the fruit of the earth and in the fruit of the Spirit. This morning's sermon takes the title 'The Grace of Giving' and as we give thanks today for God's grace to us in providing for us materially and spiritually, I would like to encourage you to think about how we each can reflect that grace in our own giving our sharing of what God has entrusted to us in the harvest of the earth and in the Good News of Jesus Christ that is not for us to hold onto for ourselves but to give away to others. One of the benefits of preaching through Books of the Bible is that you are tempted neither to give too much prominence to subjects that do not appear very often in the Scriptures, nor to avoid difficult issues. We have come this morning to a passage in 2 Corinthians where the question of Christian giving is raised, and so we must address it. I am not raising it because I think we always need to harp on about money; I am not shying away from it because I fear that some might be offended by my speaking about such a thing. I am addressing it to you this morning because it is hear in the Word of God as a matter we should consider. It is in fact very appropriate that we come to this passage as we celebrate God's generosity to us in the harvest and consider today how we might respond to Him Perhaps you should be thankful that you have me to speak to you this morning and not the Apostle Paul, because he certainly didn t pull any punches and I suspect he would have had every single one of us pinned to our seats with shame at our reluctance to give in a truly Christ-like way. But while I don t want to be as blunt as he was in his letter, I do want to echo what he says in v.8 about 'not laying down rules' for giving but simply 'showing how eager others are to help'.

2 2 The others he writes of are the Macedonian churches of Philippi, Thessalonica and Berea in northern Greece, which he describes as being in extreme poverty and under severe trial. We are not given details of the precise problems they faced but it s quite likely that they had to do with the persecution the Macedonian churches had undergone from the very start. Being frowned on by the authorities would have meant financial hardship for the Christians as they were discriminated against people might have taken their business away from them for fear of being tarred with the same brush. Yet, Paul tells us, the churches there were overflowing with joy and in exceptional financial generosity. In comparison, Corinth was a rich, cosmopolitan trading city where all kinds of religions were tolerated and the Christians thrived (in material terms) along with everyone else yet the church at Corinth which had so much going for it was having to be cajoled into giving for the work of the Gospel. No wonder Paul was hard-hitting when he wrote to them! What, I wonder, would he say today to us who live in an affluent community in one of the richest countries on earth? Let me explore that question with you this morning with the help of three sets of comparisons that are suggested by this passage. First of all, motivation. What is it that motivates Christians to give? In his letter, Paul is trying to motivate the Corinthians to give by comparing them with the Macedonians he is giving them an example to follow, something to base their own response on, something to inspire them. He s saying to them: Doesn t it inspire you to read of these folk in Philippi and Thessalonica giving as much as they were able and even beyond their ability? Doesn t it give you something to think about when you learn that the Macedonians weren t asked to give, but that they made the first move, urgently pleading with Paul for the privilege of sharing in an act of service to the Christians in Jerusalem? In the example of the Macedonians, Paul shows what happens when people truly give themselves to the Lord, and that example is as much for us as it was for the Corinthians. It wasn t that they were unchristian they excelled, says Paul, in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in love but because they themselves were rich and self-sufficient it never occurred to them that they should give financial support to Christians elsewhere. They needed to have that omission pointed out to them and they needed to be taught how to give.

3 3 We could make similar comparisons between ourselves here in Kinross and people in other churches. It was pointed out (quite rightly) at a recent Kirk Session meeting that Kinross has the 3 rd largest financial allocation in the Presbytery of Perth. That is perhaps not surprising since we are the 5 th largest congregation in the Presbytery So, why are we struggling to meet our commitments at this time? Well, perhaps it is because our average givings per person actually put us in 21 st place in the Presbytery and are the lowest in Kinross-shire. Now, don't get me wrong, members and adherents of this congregation are not lacking in Christian graces, but perhaps (like the Corinthians) we need to be taught what it is to give in a Christ-like manner. And when you compare the nature of our giving not with Christians in our own country, but with our brothers and sisters in places like Malawi, then we really do have a lot to learn. Comparisons with other churches may shame us into increasing our giving, but Paul points the Corinthians (and us) beyond the example of our fellow Christians to the example that really motivates us to give that of Jesus Christ, who in the words of our text this morning, rich as He was, made Himself poor for your sake in order to make you rich by means of His poverty. If we give ourselves first to the Lord who has given Himself for us, then we will be truly motivated to contribute both financially and in kind to the advancement of the Kingdom of God. So, secondly and practically speaking, how are we to go about giving in a Christ-like way? What does Paul say to the Corinthians? He doesn t issue an instruction like a financial demand notice for a bill that must be paid. Rather, he gently tries to prompt them to make their own response to what God has so graciously done for them, knowing that they will only truly be giving Christianly if it is a spontaneous expression of a love that is from the heart genuine and sincere. But at the same time he teaches them that, where they are lacking in this grace of giving, their love is actually incomplete 'On with it, then, and finish the job! Be as eager to finish it as you were to plan it, and do it with what you now have.' (v.11) That is where comparisons come into it again. He has urged them to look at the Macedonians, but he also tells them to compare what they give with what they earn themselves. If you are eager to give, God will accept your

4 4 gift on the basis of what you have to give, not on what you haven't. (v.12) In other words, Paul is giving the same teaching as the Old Testament gives, and which Jesus Himself highlights in the story of the widow s mite, namely that our giving should not be a fixed amount (a kind of subscription or a membership fee to belong to a club) but that it should be a proportion of our income. Take a good look at what is coming into your pocket by way of income the fruits of whatever harvest it is that you reap and work out what proportion of that is given back to God (whether through the Church or by other Christian agencies). Is it 10% as the Old Testament teaches, or is it more like 5 or 2 or 1%, or is it less? That s what is important not the actual amount that we give. The couple of pounds that one person is able to give may actually be a much higher proportion than the 50 note another person offers. And finally, the third question what are the aims of our giving? Again, Paul tries to make this clear to the Corinthians, so that they know why they are giving. He writes, I am not trying to relieve others by putting a burden on you; but since you have plenty at this time, it is only fair that you should help those who are in need. Then when you are in need and they have plenty, they will help you. (vv.13-14) It should be a two-way process, comparing the needs in one place with the resources that are available in another. The Church of Scotland seeks to be faithful to its calling to make the Good News of Jesus Christ heard in every corner of our land and because, if it was down to each congregation to sustain its own work, some churches, particularly those in remote rural areas and in city housing schemes, simply wouldn't survive, but through what is known as the Ministry and Mission Fund, congregations like ours have the privilege of supporting smaller churches. Our Kirk Session has chosen for our Harvest offering this year the work of Christians against Poverty and I commend that to you as an immediate way in which you can put the teaching of this morning's reading into practice. I understand that this coming Friday at 9pm on BBC 2 there is to be a documentary about CAP - it has been recommended to me and I pass that recommendation on. According to Biblical principles there ought to be neither excess nor insufficiency in a phrase from the story of the manna in the desert with

5 5 which Paul concludes the passage we read this morning, 'The one who gathered much did not have too much and the one who gathered little did not have too little.' So, are we motivated by the example of our fellow Christians? Compare yourselves with them. Do we know why it is we should give and how we should give? Compare your income with your offerings to the work of the Gospel. Can we see clearly the aims to which our giving will be directed? Compare the needs of others with our own needs as a church. Our giving is one of the tests of the reality of our love for Jesus. We must give ourselves first to Him, and then to the needs of others according to our means, because our Lord Jesus Christ; rich as He was, He made Himself poor for your sake in order to make you rich by means of His poverty.